In the 1960s, a lot of young American students ‘checked out’.
They became hippies, sat in parks and demonstrated against the Vietnam War.
It was an economic disaster: people left college, left their jobs, didn't progress on career pathways, and there was a hole left in the middle of American economic society that people thought would be unlikely to be filled for generations.
In the end, those young student protesters became bankers and lawyers and economists and accountants and all sorts of different things.
There's story after story of many of them who started businesses.
What they understood after the protests (and many of the protests were extraordinarily valid) was that the world didn't owe them a living.
If you're waiting for everything to get ‘right’.
If you're waiting for ‘fear’.
You'll be waiting a while.
It's possible to make a positive difference and leave it better than you've found it, and also make a living and a future for yourself and your family.
I'm watching the younger generations of university students and graduates now; that's exactly where my kids are.
There are still some who have the ethic to work and understand that they have to make their way, but there are also others who don't.
It will be all right though; I think in a minute they'll wake up and realise that the world doesn't owe them a living.
They begin to understand that it's one thing to see the summit of the mountain, but it's yet another thing to start to climb the mountain.
The earlier you start to climb, the quicker you get to the top, only to find out there's another summit, which is higher and better, with a much nicer view.
Blog Post Number - 4639